Monday, December 24, 2012

Midwifery Play Kits

Various exam tools, supplement bottles/boxes or whatever you desire to go into the kit

A bag or box to hold it, and decorating supplies if desired

So, this was a last minute project. I wasn't as prepared as I'd hoped, and as time goes by, I'll probably replace the plastic, pre-owned toys with real toys and include other materials such as a measuring tape. But I managed to finish them before Christmas at least! :)

1. Use a hot glue gun and glue two pieces of felt together, stuffinga tad bit of fluff inside them before closing up the final hole. (You could probably sew, too, but this way eliminates stitching). Take the thick yarn and either use it as-is or braid/twist it to make a thick umbilical cord. Then cut a tiny hole and poke the cord into, and glue around it. You can insert the umbilical cord (yarn) anywhere you desire, so that would make for a great educational toy to show off different cord insertions to older children.

2. Decorate your bags or containers as desired. I used iron-on transfers.

DD uses this as a "fish scale" to weigh her dolls.

You can pack in some empty, non-hazardous mama and baby supplements.

Add any other tools such as a stethoscope and measuring tape and they're ready for aspiring midwives and doulas!

My total cost for one kit:

I owned the scissors and glue gun.
Glue sticks: $3
Felt: $1 a piece, two per placenta
Yarn: I bought a nice, "natural" form for $4 and have tons leftover
Filling: just borrowed a few handfuls from a quilting friend; it doesn't take much
Bags: 4 for $10
Medical tools: $1 for a little plastic set at Toys R Us
Boxes/bottles of "supplements" free from my own stash

= Cheap and tons of fun!

All of the kids who received one of these are in love w/ it. Ranging in age from 2-10 years. I also later bought some glue-on velcro dots at Walmart ($3) and added them to the end of the cord and the end of some of their dolls so they could attach and detach the cord. My daughter also expanded the idea with her imagination, and has used her placenta to "birth" baby kittens for her mama cat lol.